LIVE 2019 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

LIVE 2019 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

It’s here, it’s time for the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix and we’re all getting ready for the race ahead.

The sun is shining and drivers are now getting ready to go out for the track parade.

Valtteri Bottas and Toto Wolff having a chat this morning – getting ready for the race ahead.

The drivers are now making their way out onto the track for the track parade.

LIVE 2019 Spanish Grand Prix: DRIVER INTERVIEWS – TRACK PARADE

Lewis Hamilton: “We’re professionals here, we don’t need to be told what to do – we know what we need to do here and we both respect each other and the rules. I don’t know about the pace of Ferrari but I hope that we’ll be strong – we should be.”

“This isn’t an easy track to overtake at and the weather temperature is getting really warm so hopefully, we’ll have a good one.”

NEWS JUST IN – Hulkenberg will be starting the race from the pit-lane after changing the front wing to a different spec

Max Verstappen: “We are fighting Ferrari. At the moment, Mercedes is too quick but yesterday I was close to Seb so hopefully we can continue the fight. I’m already looking forward to the Dutch Grand Prix.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “We don’t chat about the cars.

Max Verstappen: “We don’t copy each other – we look at how we can gain advantages.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It’s difficult coming from the pit lane but I will do what I can and try to make the best out of the race and gain in places.”

Sebastian Vettel: “We’ll try and pass them straight away (laughs). Yesterday, these guys (Mercedes) were really quick. We have a good straight down to turn one and hopefully we can benefit from this.”

Valtteri Bottas: “I haven’t been hiding a different Bottas (laughs), I’ve just been doing things differently and this has given me the confidence. Hopefully I will be leading – this is a long race though. The start will be the key – we will race hard and hopefully, we’ll have Ferrari in the mix.”

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas with the ‘Big Boss’ for his last race as CEO of Mercedes Benz.

Charles Leclerc: “I want to achieve as much as possible for the first year. It’s too early to say what I can do but I will be giving everything throughout the year and seeing what we can do to score points as a team. I think there’s always potential to do well – I haven’t put everything together yet but this will come with time. I need to keep working, I need to be focused and hopefully the results will come. People think I put myself down mentally and that’s not the case – I am hard on myself and self-critical but I am very confident to do my best and I believe that I will be able to deliver.”

Mattia Binotto: “We are not where we want to be but we have brought the upgrades and everything performs but we do not have the speed yet. The start will be important – it’s not impossible but very difficult to overtake here. If we are lucky, we can stay ahead of one of the two Mercedes and we will see how we can maximise the results today.”

Drivers are now making their way to the garage to get ready for the race.

2019 LIVE SPANISH GRAND PRIX – GRID

The pit-lane is now open and drivers are getting their cars out onto the grid.

The sun is shining and the weather temperature is very warm however there’s more wind compared to yesterday – this is going to be an exciting race.

Daniel Ricciardo: “It’s a tough track to overtake here but I think the strategy will be something to look at. The wind has picked up quite a lot since yesterday so we’ll see what we can do for the race.”

Neymar: “Lewis is a best friend of mine and I’m here to support him – he’s a good friend of mine but I’m very happy to be here.”

Drivers are now talking to their engineers, discussing things for last minute things – Lewis Hamilton is in the garage and chatting to Toto Wolff.

Antonio Giovinazzi: “The car feels OK but we will do our best. We are starting from the back which isn’t great but we will see. This isn’t an easy race but we will try and see what we can do. I hope we have a good one.”

Robert Kubica: “It could be better, it could be worse. I don’t know what we can do but we will have to keep working, stick together and do small steps forward to keep going. There’s a lot of work in front of us but we will continue working.”

Max Verstappen: “The car is alright – compared to Ferrari, we have a good chance. They are not that strong in the last sector so hopefully we can get them and we will try to take a position. If not, it’s not but if we can we will do our best. Now, I am happy but we can talk again after the race.”

Romain Grosjean: “The car felt good going to the grid and we will see how things will go and what we can do but these results will be good for the team as we can’t do much better so this will be nice.”

LIVE 2019 Spanish Grand Prix

NATIONAL ANTHEM

Drivers are now making their way back to their cars following the national anthem – getting themselves ready for the start of the race.

The weather temperature is very warm so strategy will be key in this race – as will the start.

The weather temperature is warm. The tyres which are available are – Soft, Medium and Hard compound tyre.

FORMATION LAP – LIVE 2019 Spanish Grand Prix

Drivers are now making their way round the circuit for the formation lap – drivers are getting their cars as ready as they can for the start of the race.

Lap 1

Lewis Hamilton gets a really good start and overtakes Valtteri Bottas – Vettel goes round on the side and it’s the three of them down the straight at one point.

Bottas and Vettel get really (really) close as Vettel has a lockup – he’s on the radio, telling the team.

Leclerc is right behind Vettel whereas Hamilton is steaming ahead – he’s created a gap already.

Verstappen is up into P3, overtaking Vettel so now it’s Verstappen, Vettel and Leclerc.

Here’s the view from the front three drivers from Verstappen’s point of view.

Gasly goes off track however there’s no safety car and no major issues on the first lap.

Lap 2

Hamilton leading the race – at the moment, he’s looking comfortable with Valtteri Bottas in P2.

Lap 3

Lewis Hamilton now sets the fastest lap and DRS is now enabled.

Bottas takes the fastest lap.

Take a look at the race start in the photo below.

Lap 5

Lewis Hamilton now sets the fastest lap time and is leading the race comfortable for now. Valtteri Bottas is right behind with Verstappen keeping up with the Mercedes’.

Lewis Hamilton still leading the race – he’s now making his way through backmarkers, lapping.

Lap 21

Lewis Hamilton now sets the fastest lap time – in the meantime, Max Verstappen comes into the pits and Leclerc moves up into P3. Gasly in P4 and Max Verstappen rejoining the track in P5.

Vettel has dropped down to P10 – what a disastrous race this has become for him.

Hamilton now sets the fastest lap time.

Lap 23

Pierre Gasly now comes into the pits – a relatively good stop from the team. He’s on the medium tyres.

Sebastian Vettel is now making his way through the grid – up into P7.

Sainz is right behind Gasly who just rejoins the grid following his pit-stop.

Lap 25

Sebastian Vettel has started to pick up the pace – he’s put in the fastest lap of the race and he’s now up into P6.

Charles Leclerc comes into the pits – there’s a problem with the rear left tyre! It’s a slow stop for the team. He’s on the hard-tyres.

Lap 30

Valtteri Bottas now sets the fastest lap time. Lewis Hamilton still leading the race however there’s a little battle going on between the Ferrari’s.

Vettel has picked up so much speed that he’s closed the gap to Leclerc who’s in P4 – he’s right behind so this will be a battle!

Lap 33

The battle between the Ferrari’s continues – Vettel is right behind Leclerc however he can’t find a way by….

At the moment, I have no idea what Ferrari are doing in terms of their strategies. They’re ruining their races and not giving their drivers the opportunities to maximise on points and results.

Lap 36

Bottas now claims the fastest lap time – the team telling him about the times.

Hamilton leading the race.

Vettel now manages to make his way past Leclerc.

Lap 41

Vettel comes back into the pits for a tyre change – Leclerc now goes back into P4 and Gasly moves up to P5. Vettel down to P6.

Lap 42

Vettel now makes his way past Gasly – he’s overtaking and now steaming ahead again, catching his team-mate.

Lap 43

Vettel now sets the fastest lap time again – he’s looking stronger in this part of the race, as is Verstappen.

He now comes into the pits and drops down from P3 to P4.

Lap 46

Oh no! Lando Norris and Lance Stroll come together – what a disaster!

SAFETY CAR

Lewis Hamilton over the radio: “There’s a lot of gravel there.” Where the incident took place.

Drivers are following the safety car.

Lap 50

The safety car is still in this lap – drivers are managing their cars round these laps.

Lap 52

The safety car will be ending this lap – drivers are now getting their cars ready for the restart.

Hamilton has now started to control the pack – he’s backing up the cars and getting them all ready for the restart.

Lap 53

Hamilton has a good head-start and clears the gap to his team-mate. On the other hand, Gasly and Leclerc came close however Leclerc stayed ahead in P5. Magnussen and Gasly had an ongoing battle – at one stage Magnussen going off track but Gasly stays ahead in P6.

Lap 54

Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap time – improving. 1:18.492

Lap 57

Again, Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest lap time and asking his engineers about the timing – he wants the fastest lap extra point!

There’s a battle ongoing between Magnussen and Grosjean – the latter part of the live 2019 Spanish Grand Prix is turning into a good one with the little battles everywhere!

Lap 58

Grosjean and Sainz nearly come together – Grosjean comes off the track and gains a big amount of speed however he’s ahead of Sainz and has moved up into P8.

Sainz now makes his way past Grosjean and moves up into P8 – did the team tell Grosjean to give the place back or did the slight touch affect his car?

Lap 61

Lewis Hamilton still leading the race and still has the fastest lap time however there’s little battle going on.

At the moment, we have a battle between Ricciardo, Albon and Grosjean.

Lap 64

Ricciardo has now dropped back slightly however Albon is closing the gap to Grosjean – not sure he’ll be able to make his way past though as there’s only 2 (ish) laps left to go!

Lap 65

Lewis Hamilton still leading the race and still with the fastest lap time.

Team to Albon: “Go on Alex, go on – only two laps to go” Toro Rosso telling their driver to put the pressure on and overtake Grosjean.

Lap 66

It’s the last lap and there’s little battles still ongoing round the circuit. Lewis Hamilton leading the race and just making his way round the last few corners.

LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE 2019 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

It’s a Mercedes 1-2 with Bottas in P2. Max Verstappen in P3.

Ferrari are further back in P4 (Vettel) and P5 (Leclerc) – not a great race for the Scuderia Ferrari team.

DRIVER INTERVIEWS – POST-RACE

Lewis Hamilton: “Firstly, I just have to put it down to this incredible team. This is history making to have five 1-2’s. It’s been a hard few races but we just had to carry on and I’m very grateful for this win.”

“It was an interesting start – I saw a red car go round the back of us so I had no idea how far ahead they were and I knew Valtteri was on my side but it wasn’t a repeat of Baku.”

“I was trying to keep the tyres warm and I also wanted the fastest time too.”

Valtteri Bottas: “It was a tight start but I lost some speed – there was strange behaviour on the clutch and I lost it there. As a team, this is incredible and we got good points for the team but I’m just keen to find out why my start was so bad and what happened to my clutch.”

Max Verstappen: “It was a hectic first few laps and I kept away from things – the Mercedes were too quick today but we’re happy to be on the podium.”

Lots more coming soon – including driver interviews and photos from the paddock.